Declivitous Recursion: A tale of temporal chaos
by James Tuddrussell
Summary: Naruto finds himself repeating his life. Every time he dies, he snaps back to graduation day at the academy. So far he's done it quite a few times, and the centuries have left him a good deal worse for the wear. Rated T for moderate language and violence.
1. Chapter One

Declivitous Recursion: A tale of temporal chaos

Chapter one: In which it begins again.

Naruto opened his eyes to see the crummy ceiling that he's come to associate with new beginnings, and old garbage.

"Hmm, I believe that this is my four hundred and fifty-sixth trip back. Which makes me about... Er, nine hundred and eighty years old!"

A deep rumbling in the back of his mind spoke of discontent. Words seemed to carve themselves in the back of Naruto's mind. They painfully spelled out the following: **"You're forgetting the hundreds of years you spent as a woman."**

Naruto chuckled. "Silly fox, that makes Naruko about three hundred and ninety years old... It doesn't effect how old Naruto is!"

The headache returned, and imparted him with this message: **"I worry about you sometimes... And then I remember I hate you, so I laugh at how crazy you've become."**

Naruto frowned. "Naruto's not crazy! Naru- Wait, you might have a point there... But that doesn't really matter, for today is graduation day!"

Naruto rushed through his morning routine, and made sure to remind himself to pick up real food when he gets time.

"**I don't see why you don't just hunt for rabbits like a real man would!"**

Naruto pinched his nose. "Stop that, it hurts you retarded fuzzball!... And I am so a real man!"

The pain returned, even worse than before. **"Don't tell me what I can and cannot do! You're not the boss of me, you seem to be forgetting just who and **_**what**_ **I am! I am the nine tailed demon fox you insignificant worm! Why, when I was your age-"**

Naruto groaned, and tried to ignore him. With a leap he flung himself out his window, and landed on top of the neighbouring building. With another bound he began his journey to the ninja academy.

Along the way he made sure to wave and smile at everyone he came across... Even the Anbu that were hidden so well that most Jounin would overlook them, even if they were actively searching for them.

The Anbu team made note of the suspicious child, and sent word to the Hokage.

* * *

Naruto landed on the academy grounds, and made his trademarked glamour pose. With a foxy smirk, he winked at Hinata... Who was the only one who actually noticed, or cared that he arrived.

"_Naruto-kun seems different..."_

Naruto walked into the school, making sure to wish Hinata good luck as he passed by. In the classroom Naruto sat near the back, close to Shino.

"How you doing there bug boy?" Shino was wary of him, as the two of them haven't really interacted much over the course of their learnings.

"I am fine Naruto-san." Naruto frowned, as if he was expecting a different reaction.

"Hmm..." Shino quivered ever so slightly under Naruto's inquisitive glare, to him it seemed as though Naruto was accusing him of something.

After a bit of a seating kerfuffle, Iruka established order. "Alright, I'll call your names one at a time-"

Naruto yawned, and decided to take a quick nap.

* * *

"-uto... Naruto... Naruto... Naruto!... **Wake up!**" Iruka threw his eraser at Naruto who woke up, and caught it. He then sat up, and walked over to the door.

Naruto stood before Iruka, and the other guy. He thought about failing, but settled on using shadow clones and hoping Iruka doesn't notice. With a motion of his hand two perfectly formed clones poofed into existence.

Iruka narrowed his eyes slightly, he felt far more chakra being dumped into the technique than a clone could possibly hold.

He walked over to one, and examined it closely. He scribbled something into his notes, and turned back to Naruto.

"Well done Naruto, you pass! Grab a headband from the pile, and return to your seat."

Naruto smirked as he allowed his clones to dissipate.

* * *

Kakashi peered at his potential students, and slumped towards them. "Tell me a little about yourselves."

Naruto perked up. "My name is Naruto, or at least it was... No wait, it still is. Where was I? Oh yes, My name is Kakashi... I mean Naruto... Yes... Naruto. That's my name. You're Kakashi. What was your question again?"

Sakura looked at Naruto with disturbed bemusement, and scooted as far away as she could. Sasuke just ignored the dobe.

"Uh... Let's have someone else take a turn, and you can come back to it later." Kakashi's eye betrayed none of the thoughts going through his mind as he appraised the clearly addled child in front of him.

Sakura decided to have a go. "My name is Sakura, I like anmitsu and reading. I hope to get stronger, and to be a proper kunoichi." She made several suggestive glances at Sasuke to show what she really had on her mind.

Naruto decided to try again. "My name is Naruto. I like anmitsu and reading. I hope to get stronger, and to be a proper kuno-"

Sakura cut him off. "Sensei, Naruto's stealing my introduction!"

"Naruto, don't steal Sakura's introduction. You're a shinobi now, stand on your own two feet... Right, now Sasuke, it's your turn."

Sasuke looked up. "My name's Sasuke, I don't particularly like anything. One day I will kill some one. I don't hope that it'll happen, I know it will."

Kakashi gave the oddest of his students one more chance. "My name is Naruto, I like ramen... I hope to, uh... Hmm, I guess I don't really have a hope. So I suppose I'll settle for having fun, and living life until I die! Naruto I mean, until he dies... I am him."

Kakashi sighed, he would have to talk with the Hokage about this. "Uh, that was... That was, good enough I suppose. Meet me at training ground three, at six or so in the morning... You're dismissed!"

Sakura chimed in. "Uh sensei, you never... introduced yourself."

Kakashi looked at her oddly, then smirked under his mask. "I am quite sure that I did, I remember doing it. Yes, distinctly so."

Sakura tilted her head. Sasuke just huffed... Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah I remember that too, he was the first one."

Sasuke sniffed at him. "Oh yeah, Then what did he say?"

Naruto slouched, and closed one eye. He proceeded to perfectly imitate his sensei's mannerisms... But spoke in his own voice. "I am Kakashi Uchiha... I mean Haruno. My name is not important, and my likes are even less so. I like icha icha paradise, and all the trashy romance therein. Also my name is Kakashi!"

Kakashi nodded. "I agree with the... Uh, with Naruto completely."

* * *

Sarutobi looked at the three scrolls on his desk. Each were open, and they were sorted to form a time line of events. The first is a report of Naruto casually locating a hidden Anbu unit while in transit, the second is an academy report detailing the inappropriate use of a kinjutsu, and the last is a request from Kakashi for a face-to-face meeting. The third Hokage summoned Kakashi into his office.

"Yes?" Sarutobi leaned over.

Kakashi scratched his face. "Well... Naruto's acting strangely. He seems to, at best, have a tenuous grasp on who he is at any given moment."

Sarutobi lit his pipe, and sat back in his chair. "Do I have to summon Ibiki to have a 'chat' with him?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Nah, it's not like that. It seems to me as if he was hit in the back of the head by an earth jutsu or something."

The Hokage nodded. "Keep an eye on him, I have some theories as to what's going on."

Kakashi turned back as he opened the door. "Are any of them good?"

Sarutobi looked at Kakashi as if he had made a rookie mistake. "Are they ever good?"

Kakashi closed the door.

_To be continued..._


	2. Chapter Two

Declivitous Recursion: A tale of temporal chaos

Chapter two: In which the bells toll

Naruto scribbled the last few symbols onto the large seal array he was working on. With a grunt, and a flash he infused the pattern with his chakra, a golden glow filled the room as the seals rearranged themselves. They swirled, and constricted as they entangled his old goggles. Within seconds the goggles fell to the floor with a cascade of sparks.

Naruto waited a few seconds, then tapped it with his brush. "...Perfect!" With a smirk he attached them to his head. After that was done he got out the jacket that he spent the previous day working on, it was a heavy leather lab coat. Naruto also put on a pair of dull orange pants, he attached several packs and pouches to it. He finished his breakfast, and grabbed his dark green/orange aviator hat and his new boots.

"Alright, now that I'm properly outfitted I'll need a weapon... Something that will instill fear into my enemies, and bring credibility to the clan Uzumaki!"

* * *

Naruto sat down by the posts, Sakura and Sasuke were already there. Sasuke noticed Naruto's new weapon.

"Why are you carrying that thing around dobe?" Sasuke noticed Naruto's new hat, but didn't comment on it.

Sakura noticed the entire getup, but dismissed it as an odd prank of some sort.

Naruto unlatched his weapon from his back, and heaved it forward to show the world. "I carry this for one very important reason: I thought it would be interesting to use in a combat situation, and for the record you're more of a dobe than I ever was Chouji."

Sasuke was about to yell at him, but Sakura got on his case first.

"His name is Sas-uke, not Chouji!" Naruto smirked at the way she broke up his name.

Naruto waved dismissively. "Alright, alright... It's not a big deal Ino." Naruto shivered involuntarily as Sakura channelled major bad vibes in his direction. Even Sasuke was unnerved, the only thing that saved Naruto from her wrath was Kakashi's sudden entrance.

Kakashi decided to intervene as he wanted all his would-be Genin intact before he crushed their dreams. "Now now, no need for fighting. You are all adults in the eyes of the village, so the time for petty squabbles has ended. Now is the-" Kakashi rushed to intervene yet again as Sakura pulled a kunai on Naruto. "Cut it out you brats!"

Once they calmed down enough, Kakashi explained their test. "Alright, I have two bells. Get them or you fail." He then disappeared.

Naruto stood up, and gathered the attention of his fellow Genin. "I have a plan. Charlie you'll attack him with a fire jutsu, and while he's distracted by that I'll finish him off. Sarah, who has been placing traps in the forest behind him with the aid of my shadow clones, will go for the bells. One of my clones will get his book."

Sakura quirked at the mention of the book. "Why is the book important?" Naruto looked at her. "Because the bells are just a distraction, he doesn't care about them... However he'd go through hell and back for that book."

Sasuke scowled. "...But if the book is the real objective then why are me and Sa-ku-ra stuck with the bells?" Naruto smirked. "Who said that? We would have completed our objective of getting the bells, the book is merely insurance. I can use it to make damn sure Kakashi passes us."

Sasuke thought about that. It actually sounded reasonable, he was on the fence about Naruto being the planner from the start but the deviousness changed his mind. "Alright, I'm in... But only because I like the underhandedness involved in your otherwise retarded plan... Also, don't call me Charlie!"

* * *

Kakashi sensed movement to his right, and sure enough glanced Sasuke walking out of the bushes. Sasuke went through some hand signs and launched a small storm of fireballs at him. Kakashi dodged the fire, and kicked Sakura out of the way of the jutsu... And into one of her traps. Naruto ran up and swung his weapon, only to have it caught. "A shovel... Really? Where would you even get one of these anyway?" Kakashi tossed it into the woods.

Naruto pointed to the other end of the clearing. "I got it over there, I saw it laying around and decided it would be fun to hit you with it."

Kakashi blinked. "Okay, but that-" Kakashi spun around after he felt something, only to see dozens of Naruto clones running in different directions. They all carried a familiar book.

He sped off after them with fury in his eye.

Naruto looked around for Sasuke, and found him helping Sakura out of the trap. "Alright, I'll get the book and I'll try to get a pass for all of us... If I can't, then I'll at least get a bell for the two of you."

Sasuke nodded.

Sakura looked at Naruto strangely. "Why would you give us the bells, surely you'd want one for yourself?"

Naruto smirked. "Simple. I don't need Kakashi to train me, I could easily get Jiraiya, or Tsunade to train me... Hell, I don't even really need them to train me, I can just as easily do that myself!"

Sasuke glared at him, but said nothing.

Naruto jumped into the trees, and made his way towards the designated drop off point for the book.

Once he got it, he sat down and plotted. "I can't just go for a straight trade as Kakashi would just take the book, and I can't leave it anywhere without the risk of him stumbling across it. I can't bury it, or hide it without risking damage to the book... Wait a second, I could try the old door trick!"

* * *

Kakashi dispelled the last clone, yet remained empty handed. He sighed, and walked back to the clearing.

Once he arrived he noticed that there was a stage with six podiums on one side, and a curtain on the other. After a brief fanfare, Naruto walked onto the stage.

"Welcome. I am sure you are all excited to be here for the forty-fourth first episode of Shinobial Pursuit! I am your host: Naruto... Something or other!"

The applause sign blinked, and Sasuke glared at it from the audience. Sakura, not quite knowing what is going on, decided that following the orders of a sign in plain kanji was easy enough. She clapped halfheartedly, but stopped as she discovered the profound awkwardness of being the only person applauding.

Not knowing what else to do, Kakashi walked on to the stage to tell off Naruto for being all kinds of ridiculous.

A spotlight shined on Kakashi as he walked up. Naruto smiled. "Ah, our first contestant Higurashi!"

Kakashi walked up to the empty podium, he noticed that five Naruto clones filled up most of them.

"Uh, what is this?"

Naruto ignored him. "Contestants, ready your buzzers. The first question is: What is grey, sort of squidgy, and doesn't like mice?

Naruto clone number three hit his buzzer first. "Elephants!"

Naruto shook his head. "Next."

Naruto clone number one hit his buzzer first. "Those things... What do you call them? Elephants!"

"Next!"

Kakashi managed to get it this time. "Uh, Tora?"

"Wrong! The answer was: Rats."

Naruto spun around and pulled a lever, mud fell on everyone. "LIGHTING ROUND!"

"How many Uchihas does it take to screw in a light-globe?"

Kakashi hit his buzzer. "Uh... Four?"

Naruto cheered, and a horrendous sounding siren went off. "That is correct! Now spin this wheel..."  
After around twenty minutes of more nonsense, Kakashi stood before three doors. "Now, I just have to pick one?"

Naruto nodded. Kakashi opened door number two, and inside was a contract outlining an agreement that he'll get his book back if he allows them to pass.

"Honestly, I don't think you should be ninja. Any of you, but I want my book so..."

Kakashi signed the agreement, and handed it to Naruto. "Why couldn't you just hand this to me in the beginning, instead of forcing me to play this ridiculous game?"

Naruto chuckled. "Simple: You wouldn't have signed it if you weren't worn out! The book is in door number three."

Kakashi stopped. "How did you know which door I'd choose?"

Naruto smirked devilishly. "Everyone picks door number two..."

* * *

Naruto entered the local ninja bar, and sat at the counter. After a while the war grizzled barkeep brought her attention to him. "What'll ye' have kid?"

Naruto looked up, and smiled his suave charm smirk number four. "Why I am not a child, I'm merely a ninja who forgot to eat his leafy green vegetables when he was." He tapped the Konoha symbol attached to his sleeve for emphasis.

The barkeep wasn't having any of this. "I'm wise to yer little Genin mind games brat, I were a ninja too! You'll have to do a little better than that."

Naruto frowned. "Now listen here, I may be a bit vertically challenged but I killed more folk than you've ever laid eyes on! Also... I'll have you know that my package is perfectly robust, full-bodied, sensual, and has a distinct smokiness."

She looked at him strangely. "Did you just describe yer... _equipment_ as if it were a cup o' coffee?"

Naruto smirked. "Why yes, does it make you want to take a sip?"

She balked at that. Naruto smirked even harder. "Alright mow that we've established my credentials I will have perfect dirty martini, made of gin preferably, with six olives and a slice of bacon. The bacon will be placed on top of the glass, and the olives will be speared through it on three toothpicks. This will come with a bowl of ramen, pork ramen, on a plate. This plate will have sashimi on it in a radial swirl pattern expanding from the bowl, and it will match the symbol seen on this cloth. This order will henceforth be referred to as The Naruto, and it will be my usual. I will also have an order of dango, but that is for my dear friend who I am meeting for the first time in about a half an hour."

The barkeep blinked. Naruto sighed and handed her a piece of paper. "This here has my instructions in full, keep it." Naruto clapped his hands in a dismissive manner.

After a while, Anko showed up. She had received an odd letter. She spotted a kid sitting at the counter, with a plate of dango off to the side of him. She naturally sat down in front of the plate.

"I just love dango!"

"Your love or hate is not the issue... _Eat_ your dango."

Anko looked at him strangely. "...What?"

Naruto blinked. "I guess my mind was elsewhere."

They chatted for some time, mostly pleasantries intermixed with occasional non-sequiturs.

They both retired to lonely apartments, and fell fast asleep.

_To be continued... _


	3. Chapter Three

Declivitous Recursion: A tale of temporal chaos

Chapter two: In which exposition is abound

Naruto was standing in the middle of a small field, Kakashi had put him on scarecrow duty after he got his name wrong in front of the Hokage. All in all it wasn't a bad way to spend an afternoon. It allowed him time to converse with his pet demon.

"I was thinking that during my next reset you could remake the world again, you know like that time you made it so that Shino was a robot!" Naruto smiled when he thought about that world. He almost lived to be thirty that time, but he died in the first wave of the synthoid rebellions. Those were good, interesting days. Certainly much better than standing in a field, trying really hard not to pee one's self.

"**I'll do it, but only if you kill the snake man." **Naruto frowned soberly. "That will be tricky, I don't think I can do it for another few years at least." The Kyuubi churned in his cage. **"No! It has to be during the exams, I have a plan... You'll like it, it's **_**new.**_**" **Naruto gasped at that, then scowled. He knew that damned fox was holding out on him! "What are you planning..." The fox sent him images, mostly of hand signs and seals.

Naruto nodded briskly, and slipped out of the ropes holding him to the post. He walked around the field, marking a colossal seal array onto the ground. With a smirk he started the eight hundred or so seals he'd need. A few minutes later he slammed his hands on the ground as if he was summoning something. Which, now that he thought about it was probably what he just did.

The ground shook beneath his feet, the air in front of him shimmered violently, and a sound he heard more in his bones than his ears rang through the clearing. Suddenly, two people fell bodily to the ground. The girl's pink hair gave her identity away instantly, and the other was definitely Sasuke. Furious, Naruto yelled into his own mind. "What did you do!" Rumbling in the back of his mind told him the fox was laughing. **"They're versions of your favourite team from different time lines, I noticed that we weren't alone the last time we reset. It took me a while to figure out how to get them here." **The fox, seeing his jailor understood, went back to sleep.

Naruto looked at Sakura, and Sasuke curiously. This was certainly new, he felt excited... Invigorated even. He had his friends back! For the first time in three hundred years, Naruto wept... Mostly because someone had just kicked him very hard right in the nads. "You damned demon I wont let you hurt anyone this time!" Sakura yelled as she attacked him. Sasuke grumbled a bit, he figured he was dreaming. Naruto rolled out of the way. "Stop you crazy bitch! I'm not that damned fox!"

Sakura blinked, then looked in his eyes. "...You're Naruto." Naruto, and the now fully awake Sasuke gave her an odd look. "What I mean is you're the one in charge, right?" Naruto tilted his head, and narrowed his eyes. "The fox and I came to an agreement and..." Sakura punched him into the ground. "You're working for that monster!" Naruto groaned as he pulled himself out of the hole. "Not for, with. We're partners. I get what I want, and he doesn't get put in the box again!" He sent a flash of said box to the Kyuubi, who whimpered in turn.

Sasuke laughed. "Listen, we need to figure out what's going on. This field isn't the best place for that."

Naruto sat down, and leaned back. "Relax, you won't be around for another ten minutes or so." Sakura frowned. "What do you mean by that?" He smirked. "This Sasuke is from another universe, the Sasuke coming is the Sasuke of this universe." Sakura was the first to recover from the shock. "So this isn't just another repeat, I'm actually in another universe!" Naruto nodded, then continued. "Which means we have to kill one of them because we can't have two Sasukes running around, it just won't work!"

Sasuke scowled. "We can't just kill him!" Sakura sighed. "What else can we do?" Sasuke thought about it for a bit. "Capture him, take his eyes, and then change his body and mind." Sakura deadpanned. "That's _so_ much better than just _killing_ him!" Sasuke frowned. "He'll be alright, he'll be happier that way." Naruto snorted in amusement. "More like _SHE"LL_ be happier that way, the only person that died recently and won't be found is the daughter of the local magistrate. Solves our problem, and we get paid for an A-rank mission. Win-win in my book!"

Sakura looked at her teammates with horror and disgust. "You... You can't be serious! This is... UGH!" Sasuke looked at Sakura with sad eyes. "I know it's tough to understand, but my life was hellish the first time around. I don't want any version of me to live the life I led, I also don't want to damn him. Which is probably what would happen if he died right now." Sakura sighed. "I understand where you are coming from, but I just can't be a part of this."

She turned to Naruto to talk with him, only to see him cutting the other Sasuke's eyes out. "What are you doing!" Naruto looked over at her. "What? I thought we agreed that this was the right way to go." He sealed the eyes into a scroll, and tossed it to Sasuke. He then turned to his universe's Sasuke and began crafting a seal onto his abdomen. After about four minutes of work, he made a quick seal on Sasuke's forehead. He activated it, and poured everything he knew about the girl he would become. The final seal was activated and Sasuke was no more. In his place was Kasumi, daughter of the magistrate.

Sakura, not trusting Naruto's work, carefully scanned the neo-girl. She saw no irregularities, and from what she could tell Kasumi was a perfectly healthy young girl... Physically anyway, she would have to give her an interrogation before she's let her see her new family. Sakura woke her up gently, and went through the typical questions she'd ask a civilian she rescued. Kasumi answered every question like she was every bit the monied yet kind girl she seemed to be.

Sakura turned to see Naruto struggling with a large duffel bag. He saw her looking, and wiggled his eyebrows and made the anbu sign for cherry blossom as he pointed at the bag. Sakura of course groaned, and mimed slitting her throat. Naruto got the idea and nodded. "Excuse me, but I really should be getting home now. My parents must be worried sick!" Sasuke grimaced, the girl really creeped him out. "Sorry, it'll only be a bit longer. We have runners fetching our sensei as we speak." She looked down her eyelashes at him, with a bit of a blush. "I wouldn't mind spending a bit more time with you~"

Sakura tried to stifle her laughter as Sasuke slowly backed away. She only succeed in making squeaky noises instead.

Elsewhere, a cadre of Naruto clones stood before Kakashi. "Our boss found that girl, Megumi that everyone was looking for!" Kakashi sighed again. "I'm sure you mean Kasumi, you really need to learn to get people's names right. You're a ninja, act like one!" The Naruto clone in the lead scratched the back of his head. "Whatever, so do we take the girl back home?" Kakashi nodded, then made his way to the Hokage's office when they dispelled themselves.

Naruto perked up when he was hit with the clone's memory, he finished disposing of Sakura's body and went to speak with Sakura. As he walked over, he made sure to wipe most of the blood off of himself. He quickly made a few clones to escort his old friend to her new life, and made his way to his new team.

The clones led the girl away, and Naruto cleared his throat. "Alright, Kakashi will be at the Hokage tower in about an hour. We can have a quick discussion about what you're doing here and whatnot in the meantime. First off, you are here because the fox wants Orochimaru dead and I cannot do it alone... at least not during the chuunin exams."

Sakura nodded. "So, we have less than a year to learn to work together." Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, but does it have to be during this repeat? And for that matter, if we repeat would we just end up back in our old universes?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "We don't _have_ to kill him now, but it'd prefer it. As for your other question, yes you would... But I can fix that!" Naruto removed Sasuke's shirt and drew a seal on Sasuke's upper arm. He started on himself, and motioned for Sakura to copy him.

Once they were all done, Naruto pricked his finger and added his blood to the other seals. Once the other two finished, he clapped his hands. "Okay good, now we're bound together. As long as one of us is alive, we are all alive... As long as you consider being a voice in the back of someone's mind to be alive. Also if we all die, we'll just reset." Sakura and Sasuke nodded.

Naruto sat down again. "We need to learn a bit more about each other. I'll go first. I am almost a thousand years old, I'm a heavy assault specialist, and I seem to have impaired mental faculties... and Speaking of, the fox wants to speak with you about that!" The two ninja looked at each other. Sakura was the first to speak up. "How do you expect us to talk with that thing?" Naruto frowned. "Just close your eyes, and try to find your centre."

Once Naruto was sure that his friends were sufficiently distracted, he made a few hand signs and poked them on the foreheads. All three ninja fell backward.

_To be continued..._


	4. Chapter Four

Declivitous Recursion: A tale of temporal chaos

Chapter Four: In which a tale is told

Sakura awoke in what seemed to be a dungeon or some sort of maze. Passages branched outward in every direction, and the only light came from an eerie red glow coming from the pathway in front of them. With a huff she helped the still groggy Sasuke to get on his feet. "Where are we?" Sakura looked around once more. "I think we're in Naruto's mind." She pointed toward the glowing path. "I think we're supposed to go that way too." Sasuke nodded, and followed her lead.

As the headed down the corridor, Sakura decided to start a conversation with the Uchiha. "So, do you still want to kill your brother?" Sasuke smiled knowingly. "No, not really. What's the point? I know why he did it, and I know that killing him wont bring anyone back... Or even give me any satisfaction or closure. All it will do put needless blood on my hands. That's not to say I wont kill him if need be, just that I see no reason to do so currently."

Sakura nodded, and smiled at him. She wished her Sasuke could have been more like this one. "So, what's your story?" Sasuke smirked. "I'll tell you everything later, once we're all together. My story is one that can _only_ be told through interpretive dance." Sakura stared at him as they walked, she couldn't tell if he was kidding or not.

Sasuke cautiously sauntered down the corridor, he tried his best not to look down the branching halls. The last time the crushing realization that one wrong turn would very likely leave them lost forever. He steeled himself, and kept on following the crimson illumination.

As they reached the end of the tunnel, they were both wary. Their keenly honed senses were screaming at them to go anywhere else, but they soldiered on until they found them selves in the Kyuubi's chamber. The great fox churned behind its bars, its huge teeth curled into a smirk.

"**Ah, took you long enough. I was beginning to have doubts. I brought you here to an important truth about Naruto. Behind you are three doors, in these doors lie the differing aspects that make up Naruto... Or rather the whole Naruto, the Naruto you met is one of those aspects." **Sakura gazed back at the doors. She saw a smallish, yet ornately gilded door with 'Naruko' written on it. A medium sized door, that is well worn and homely. The final door dwarfed the others, but looked decayed and ill treated. It was also shackled, chained, locked, and sealed in more ways than she could imagine.

The Kyuubi, noticing that his guests were finished with their inspection, continued his tale of woe. **"That big door holds a creature known as Tenma, he is a being formed from everything Naruto hates about himself, every memory he repressed, his negative emotions, his sadism, and basically every little thing that could possibly make up Naruto's dark side. That thing is the only being in all the planes that I actually consider more of a threat than myself."**

The fox smirked wider as he let that information sink in. **"The smallest door has Naruto's anima. His repressed femininity, emotions, and other things he feels he can't be. She's quite nice, though whenever she takes over she almost never becomes a ninja. Doesn't have the disposition for it, though when she applies herself her natural talent becomes readily apparent."**

After contemplating how to go on, the Kyuubi decided to tell them the truth. **"The last door houses the broken, incomplete, pathetic shell that remains. His mental image is in tatters, and his memories are so warped and ragged that I'm surprised he can function on any meaningful level."**

Sasuke looked the demon right in the eyes. "Is there any way to fix him?" The Kyuubi frowned. **"He **_**is**_** fixed. Before he did this to himself he was a monster and he knew it! After shoving all that stuff to the back of his mind he found he couldn't be an effective ninja, so he shoved anything that wasn't necessary for being a ninja into the back of his mind. I may not like the results, but it was the only real option."**

They nodded. Sakura cautiously spoke up. "So, is that all you wanted to tell us?" The Kyuubi shrugged. **"Yeah, pretty much." **He waved his tails, and Sakura and Sasuke were thrown out of his domain. As they flew to back to the physical world, the voice of the Kyuubi found its way to their ears.

"**Should any of the aspects become powerful enough they can merge with the other ones to become whole, right now Tenma is the dominant force. With him behind bars, the other two have a chance to build themselves up."**

When they awoke, they found Naruto looking at them curiously. "So, tell me a bit more about yourselves."

Sakura decided to go first. "I'm slightly older than a hundred, I've reset about sixty times. I specialize in medical techniques, genjutsu, taijutsu, and chakra control. I've defeated several members of Akatsuki, and held my own against Orochimaru a few times. I usually end up being killed by my world's versions of you two..."Naruto nodded, then turned to Sasuke.

Sasuke in turn told them about himself."I'm forty-five, I've reset nine times. I'm an assassination specialist. I'm skilled with poisons, fire and lightning jutsu, weapon skills, torture, and stealth. I was an ANBU captain in two resets, and can handle my own against Akatsuki... Though Pein and Madara are just too much to handle, I did manage to kill Madara once... With an army behind me, but still."

Sasuke stood up, and posed triumphantly. "That's just the beginning of my story. Naruto... Fetch me a leotard and some techno punk!"

_To be continued..._


End file.
